Miss Toward began work as a typist at the shipping firm Prentice, Service & Henderson (175 West George Street) in 1914. The women in these photographs were most likely typists or secretaries; the men were possibly office clerks. Miss Toward stayed with the company for almost 50 years, a single woman working to support herself.

These photos are from the late 1920s and early 1930s and are a standardised size and colour, produced by companies like Eastman Kodak for owners of cameras like the Brownie.